Collision
by Eriador
Summary: It's two years after Harry graduated from Hogwarts, the war is still raging. What happens when muggles start to join the war? Bear in mind this story was started before books 6 and 7 were published
1. Briefing

**This is my third story that I've started. I am going to finish the others, I swear. I'm nearly finished on 'This Girl'. This is a new idea of mine.**

**Summary: It's set after Harry has finished Hogwart's. The war is still raging, with Voldemort gaining power. But now, the muggles have decided to intervene. Well. Some muggles. The story will revolve around the character of Lucile, but there will be lots of interaction with Harry, Ron and people in the Order.**

**Anyway, give it a read and see what you think. J. **

* * *

**Collision**

**Briefing**

In a room three stories underneath Thames House nine people sat around a oval mahogany table. A tall, commanding black man sat at the head of the table. Intricate spirals were shaven in to his head, giving him a tribal appearance. The eight people sat with four on one side of the table, four on the other. Of the eight, only two were women. One was an attractive, petite blond woman with blue eyes and a clear complexion. The other was tall and foreboding. Her hair wasjet black hanging loosely around her shoulders and eyes weregrey, and devoid of all warmth. It made her skin look very pale and ghostly. She sat absently looking at the ceiling and playing with a loose strand of her charcoal hair. The men were mainly tall and broad shouldered with dangerous looks about them, all except one. He was shorter than the others, although, since the other men were all over 6ft 2", his 6ft still made him tall. He did not have as much muscle to his name as the others and his soft brown eyes made him look less dangerous. But looks can be deceiving.

Who would have thought the petite blond and the man with soft brown eyes could be killers? Who would have thought that they had killed through choice? As a living. Regularly.

Evidently the people they had killed, hadn't.

"Good Afternoon. I'm sorry to had pulled you off your current jobs, but we've had a major breakthrough." The tall black man at the head of the table said as he stood. "If you would all follow me."

The eight simultaneously rose and followed the man through a door in to a room behind him. The room was dimly lit, with shadows filling the corners. He flicked a switch and a metallic light illuminated the room. There were eight tables in the room, each had items of clothing folded neatly upon it.

"New wardrobes boss?" The slim man joked in a heavily American accent.

"Great! I need a new pair of shoes." said the blond woman, laughed.

"No stilettos here I'm afraid Claire." The black man said smiling. "This is our new equipment."

He walked to the nearest table and picked up a t-shirt.

"Actually Jones, this is exactly what you said, your new wardrobe." He paused. "You know it would be so much easier to get protective clothing for you lot if you would all wear the same things."

On closer inspection, the tables all bore name tags, and each table had a selection of clothing individual to the wearer. However, there was one similarity. All the clothes were black.

"Aww, but sir. If we didn't make things difficult for you, you'd get complacent," Jones replied.

"And we can't have our commanding officer thinking life is too easy." The brown eyed man said.

"I have you lot to stop my life being easy." Muttered the commander.

The group laughed.

"Anyway, back to the subject matter. These new clothes have a special feature. As you know, we've been suffering a lot from spell damage." There were scowls exchanged between members of the group. "So we took it to our magical allies, to help us out. As we're helping them out. And this is what they've turned up with."

A quiet but distinct mutter could be heard from the group.

"Allies my ass."

"That's enough Lucile. These guys are on the same side as us, we have an enemy in common. We're going to need to work together sometimes." He said firmly.

The cold eyed woman glared at him mutinously.

"So, these new clothes have a new layer integrated in to them. It's made from pure dragon skin, a mixture of Swedish short snout and Ukrainian Ironbelly, if you're interested. It's a very thin layer, you'll barely notice it. Now, dragon hide is basically impervious to magic. However, we're unsure of what the extent of this is. It should block you from more widely known curses, but I doubt that one layer will hold off an unforgivable, a couple of layers might protect you from the worst of one, but I'd rather that none of you decided to try it out. There is a flaw with these, none of them will cover your eyes, there are balaclavas, but even that won't cover your eyes, if you get hit in the eye, to be short, you're fucked."

"What about memory charms? Will they shield from them?" One of the larger men asked.

"In theory, yes. As I said, if you get hit directly in the eyes, no. Also, if someone casts a particularly strong spell, perhaps not. It depends how much you have on. Any other questions?" The commander said, looking around.

The blond woman spoke.

"Why does it always have to be black?"

"At least make one thing about equipment orders easy for me. I'm not ordering things in all the colours of the rainbow. Any sensible questions?"

Claire sniggered.

"I want you back in the meeting room in ten minutes for briefing." He said, then turned and strode back in to the meeting room.

The group moved to their respective tables and began to sort through the clothing. Lucile found her pile quite satisfactory, combats and loose trousers, a short and a long jacket and numerous vests and tight fitting black t-shirts, as well as the standard gloves, socks, beanie hats and balaclavas. She didn't mind black, it was all she wore anyway. She began to pack her stuff in to the holdall at the side of the table, glancing up to her right she caught the eye of the brown eyed man. He winked at her, smiling. A small smile played at her lips and a shot of warmth crossed her eyes, making them seem more blue than grey. Quickly, she looked down and continued to pack.

Once packed, everyone made their way back in to the meeting room where the commander was waiting. They sat down.

"Ok. Everyone happy?" He asked. "Well I don't care. I'm pulling you off your original targets. We've received some intel about a big session Voldemort is planning, and we want to disrupt his proceedings as much as we can."

The commander opened a laptop and pressed a button to dim the lights. A screen flickered to life behind him. On the screen appeared a map of England. Six red dots appeared on the map in different areas of the country.

"On the night of the 10th December, one month from now, murders and tortures are going to happen in these marked areas, on mass, it looks like some kind of ritual. We're not sure exactly where, we need you to find out. When you've found out, decide what the best plan of action is. You'll be working in teams of two, so watch out for each other. We want to take out as many of these bastards as we can."

The group nodded silently.

" Team 1, Claire Hackman and Gary Jones." The blond woman and the American man stood and walked to the front of the room. "You two are going to be covering London, here's your file." Gary took it and sat down. "Team 2, Lucile Scott and Matt Holden." The dark haired woman and the man with the brown eyes walked to the front. "You two will be covering the Birmingham and Worcestershire area, it's big I know, but you can handle it." He handed Lucile their file.

Lucile and Matt walked to the end of the table and sat down to analyse the file whilst the other teams were called. Quickly, they scan read the paperwork.

"What you think?" Matt murmured.

"Seems ok, main base in the city. They'll either go for mass havoc in the centre of Birmingham, or take prisoners on mass to the countryside." Lucile replied, still reading the list of Death Eaters suspected to be present.

"How can them guess which of these dicks are going to be there? They can apparate anywhere in the country anytime they like!" Lucile muttered.

"Have faith in our commander." Matt joked. "He has his sources I'm sure."

"Mmm" Lucile replied.

"Hey, nice apartment. Brand new. Excellent." Matt commented.

"Ok, everyone, you're dismissed. Send regular reports andwatch your backs." The commander said as he rose from the table.

"A question, sir." Lucile said, also standing.

"Speak."

"Can we expect any action from our 'allies'?" she hissed the final word.

"Perhaps, they don't have a great number in their force so we can't expect them everywhere. Remember, they won't be wearing masks, but they will be using magic. Just don't shoot them."

"Oh, I'll try my hardest." Lucile said snidely.

"Please do." The commander said shortly, as he turned and left.

* * *

"Albus, they're muggles. What the hell can they do?" Kingsley Shacklebolt stormed.

"You underestimate them Kingsley." Dumbledore said quietly. "They have more power than you think. Not through magic, have you learnt nothing of their wars?"

"Of course I know about their idiotic wars. But why are they involved in ours?" Kingsley snapped.

"It is as much their war as it is ours. The ministry does not wish for them to participate though. Even though they will loose many to Voldemort and his followers." Dumbledore said sadly.

"Well how can this group continue then? If the ministry does not allow it. Why don't ministry officials just go and wipe their memories?"

"They are a small group, and at the moment, beneath the ministry's notice. I would like it to stay that way. They are trying to help the Order and we should accept any help willing."

Kingsley looked rebellious.

"But what can they do? Against people other muggles are too terrified to do anything against." He said exasperated.

"They have their own weapons, it may even surprise Voldemort himself when news of them gets back to him. And it will soon, even though they hide the evidence. We haven't seen movement from Nott, Macnair andFinchly for a long while and apparentlyFrederick Hartenhasn't been to meetings in two weeks."

"Bah, muggle weapons."

"They can do great damage Kingsley." Dumbledore said gravely.

"Well, we'll see about that." He snapped. "What does the rest of the order think?"

"Ah yes, I have one request to ask of you." Dumbledore said.

"What?"

"Do not inform anyone else in the order of this group of muggles, they may not all think it is a good idea."

"I would like to be included in the category of not thinking it's a good idea." Kingsley said. "But I will keep silent."

"The Order will know soon enough I am sure. Come, we are expected at the meeting." Dumbledore said.

* * *

N.B. Thames House is the headquarters of MI:5 for those that didn't know. That's British internal affairs. MI:6 is external, all the James Bond stuff.

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**There we go. What do you think? I actually have a whole plot thing that can happen with this story so I hope you like it. Now review, review.**


	2. The Past

Here's another chapter. I think it's a bit of a nothing chapter really. But I have a bit of time to kill. Anyway. Off we go.

* * *

**The Past**

Lucile and Matt walked slowly along the corridor away from the meeting room.

"Why do you hate wizards so much?" Matt asked.

"I just do." Was the short reply. It was evident Lucile did not want to talk about it.

"But why? You're always really sceptical about them. Have you even met a wizard before?" Matt continued.

"I've met enough." Lucile snapped. "Now please, lets not talk about it anymore."

Matt grinned and put his hands up in mock defeat.

"Ok, Ok, I give in. So what are we doing now? Pub?" He asked.

They had arrived at the lift back up to the road. Lucile pressed the button, eager to get out of the gloom of underground corridors.

"Did you know." She said. "In the Ministry of Magic, it's all underground, but they have windows that are bewitched to look like sky and outside."

"How do you know that?" Matt asked curiously.

"I read it in a book." Lucile answered, watching the number at the top of the lift counting down to their floor.

"We could go to the pub I suppose." She mused. "But I need to wash my hair before we leave tomorrow."

"You and your bloody hair!" Matt exclaimed. "How did you ever get through training?"

"With difficulty." Lucile grimaced. "It gets really greasy if I don't wash it every day. It's always been like that."

Matt shook his head silently, his male mind unable to fathom the ritual woman's hair cleanliness. The lift arrived with a 'ping' on their floor. Stepping in, Lucile pressed the ground floor button. As soon as the doors closed Matt dropped his bag and slid an arm round Lucile pulling her close to him.

"Matt!" She hissed. "There are probably cameras in here."

"So? I'm tired of hiding." Matt murmured.

Lucile pushed him away.

"You know that if they ever knew about us being together we would get taken off the team." She reasoned.

Matt sighed.

"I know. But we haven't seen each other in ages. With you away in Ireland and me in Cornwall."

"I know." Lucile said softly. "But just think, we get to spend this whole assignment together, in the same apartment." Her grey eyes had a wicked glint of mischief in them.

Matt laughed.

"You are a wicked woman."

"No I'm not." Lucile pouted.

"Don't pout, it doesn't suit you." Matt teased.

The lift doors slid open and they strode out in to the sunlit lobby.

"Much better." Lucile breathed.

Outside they hailed a taxi and directed it to their favourite bar, Circus. It was still only mid-afternoon, so the bar was quiet. Music that usually made walls shake because of the heavy guitar riffs was playing quite gently in the background. Lucile smiled as she took in the familiar surroundings. The long metallic bar, the mirrors and the dark but stylish art work on the walls. A staircase barred by two strong gates led down to the nightclub open from eight o'clock.

"This is my favourite song ever." Matt remarked.

"I thought that song you were on about last month was your favourite song." Lucile teased.

"Oh that. No. This is much better. It's my new favourite song."

"I'll have a Vodka and Coke." Lucile ordered from the waiting bar man. "Please."

"My round." Matt interrupted. "JD and Coke, and what ever she ordered."

Matt paid for the drinks and they went to sit by the open windows on a plush maroon couch. Lucile laced her fingers in Matt's and sighed.

"What?" Matt asked gently.

"I missed you." She whispered.

Matt kissed her hand.

"What do you think Birmingham's like?" He asked.

"Don't know. I've never been there." Lucile answered, taking a sip of her drink.

"Hmm, oh well. We'll find our way around." Matt said. "Whose driving tomorrow?"

"I will." Lucile said immediately.

"What? Don't you trust me in the driving seat? I am male you know, I can drive."

Lucile rolled her eyes.

"Yes, and I'm female. And I can drive better than you." She stuck her tongue out at him.

"How old are you? Six?" Matt laughed.

"Actually, I'm twenty two. So there." She said, sticking her nose in the air.

Then she lost all posture because she started to laugh. They spent the rest of the afternoon in the bar, drinking and laughing. When Lucile was with Matt, she lost the cold aloofness she carried with her and relaxed. She turned in to a happy young woman.

* * *

"C'mon, it's time go home." Matt slurred at seven o'clock.

Lucile looked at him dazedly.

"Yes." She said.

Matt snaked his arm round Lucile's waist as they left the bar. She didn't protest this time. Partly because she was fairly drunk and partly because she knew it was unlikely anyone from Mi:5 would see them. They made their way, weaving, to the underground station near them.

"Come and stay at mine." Matt whispered in Lucile's ear.

Lucile giggled and nodded and they swayed over to the platform to wait for the train. The platform was empty except for one man standing to the far end. When the couple walked on the platform he did not move or glance in their direction. After a minute or so he walked slowly towards Lucile and Matt, to all appearances they had not noticed and we're busy with each other. Although the couple were drunk, their reflexes and perception were still excellent. As the man drew level with them and a knife appeared in his hand, Lucile spun round and stepped in to grab his knife arm, swinging him round over her hip and to the floor. With a deft twist of her wrist, the knife fell with a clatter to the floor. There was a look of shock on the man's face as he lay on the floor. He began to writhe and twist on the floor, trying to free himself. Lucile tightened her grip on his wrist and he stopped struggling.

"Let him go." Matt said.

The train pulled up to the platform. Lucile kicked away the knife and with a last cold glare at their attacker, she let go. Turning her back, she took Matt's offered hand and walked on to the train, leaving the man lying on the platform.

"What a nice end to the evening." Matt muttered.

Lucile shrugged.

"At least we didn't get stabbed."

* * *

Sobriety had hit them with the attack, and they were both sombre as they walked to Matt's apartment. They stopped to look out over the river that flowed next to the apartment block. The sun was setting and it gave to water an orange glow.

"Do you ever want to do something else?" Matt asked, looking out over the water.

"Yes." Lucile stated. "I'd like to help people in a way that didn't involve killing someone."

"Maybe one day we'll be able to do what we like." Matt said hopefully.

"I don't think we'll ever be free of the service now. But remember, we did volunteer. It's not like we were forced." Lucile said.

"But it's not like we can get out of it now." Matt replied.

"No." Lucile said heavily. "We just have to wait it out."

"And hope we don't get ourselves killed." Matt remarked.

Lucile smiled.

"Let's hope we don't."

She stepped in to his embrace and lifted her mouth to his. Lucile was tall, but Matt was just that bit taller, he lower his head to hers and they kissed as the sun sank below the horizon.

* * *

Lucile collected up her clothes, strewn about the lounge. They hadn't been patient enough to wait till the bedroom to undress one another. Gazing out of the window in to the bleak darkness Lucile remembered how they had first met._Uncomfortable in her dress of midnight blue Lucile hovered at the edge of the hall, watching everyone else mingle and laugh. The tightly fitted corset with silver embroidery and flowing skirts was not was Lucile was used to and she was finding it hard to adjust to the two inch heels she was wearing. Her hair had been twisted in to gentle curls flowing a few inches past her shoulders, the curls framed her face, making her haughty posture more gentle than usual._ I thought the military was about parading in uniform and running about in the mud with guns and dangerous weapons._ She thought bitterly. Tonight was their graduation night, they had completed their extended training to go on to progress in to different areas of the army or intelligence. After ten months of gruelling training in all weathers, they were ready. Lucile saw the bar in the far corner of the room and began to edge her way towards it. As she made her way round the hall she was hailed by a group of young men._

_"Scott? No way! I had ten quid down you wouldn't wear a dress."_

_"Sorry to let you down, Nickols" Lucile said icily._

_"So you are a woman after all. I had begun to doubt that after the amount of times you beat the hell out of me in hand to hand." A brawny blond man joked._

_"Are you sure you're just not turning in to a woman?" Lucile joked back._

_"Would you like me to show you.." He began, and evil glint in his eye._

_"No, no!" Lucile cried in mock horror. "I need a drink before you start exposing yourself."_

_Grinning and feeling slightly more confident, Lucile wandered away to the bar._

_"Vodka and Coke," She ordered. "A double."_

_"Allow me." A slimly built man cut in. "JD and Coke, and whatever this lady orders."_

_Lucile turned to look at the man who interrupted. He was wearing a black uniform with officers braids across the breast pocket. With a jolt she remembered that she had just qualified as an officer as well. It was a nice feeling._

_"Thank you." She murmured. _

_"I don't think I know you." The man prompted._

_Lucile noticed he had deep brown eyes, and she lost herself for a second in his gaze before catching herself and quickly looking away, blushing._

_"Scott, Lucile Scott. From the 3rd company at Cambridge,"_

_"I'm Matt Holden. I didn't realise you were in the forces, I thought you were one the men's girlfriends." The man replied easily, holding out his hand._

_Lucile took it and instead of shaking it, he lifted it to his lips and gently kissed it._

_"What are you doing?" Lucile hissed._

_"I'm being a gentleman." Matt exclaimed in a mock upper class accent. "You look like a noble lady, so I must act like a gentleman."_

_Lucile took a large swig of her drink. This man was evidently mad. Musicians were tuning their instruments on a raised platform at the end of the hall. Lucile looked at them and scowled._

_"Don't you dance?" Matt questioned teasingly._

_"Of course I do, I'm a noble lady, remember." Lucile said, with her right eyebrow raised in sarcasm. "I just don't like to."_

_"Anyway." She snapped. "Why don't I look like I could be in the army?"_

_"Well… umm." Matt began. "It's the dress. And the curls."_

_Looking for the brawny blond man who had exclaimed about Lucile really being a woman, she pointed him out to Matt._

_"You see that guy there?" _

_Matt nodded. _

_"I floor him every hand to hand practice."_

_"Oh," Matt said. "Would you like to dance?"_

_Lucile sighed._

_"Ok then." She said, resigned to her fate._

_She finished her drink and Matt led her to the dance floor. The band struck up a lively song as they got there. Matt whirled her around the dance floor. Lucile had not been lying, she could dance, and very well, despite the heels. Matt stared in to her eyes the whole time, she could not hold his gaze and had to keep looking away, which meant she got dizzy. When the song finished she had to stand still for a moment before her balance came back._

_"Dizzy Miss Scott?" Matt joked._

_Lucile glared at him._

Grinning, Lucile looked away from the window.

"I'm going to have a shower." She called to Matt.

* * *

What do you think? Reviews, reviews! 


	3. The Search Begins

I know I haven't written in ages. Years probably. I'm going to try and update ( I say this every time) more frequently. Well see, I've been working on this chapter for a while. I'm trying to get to the exciting parts. Anyway, see what you think.

J Xx

* * *

**The Search Begins**

"What, on earth is that?" Matt asked incredulously.

He was gazing up at a large, oddly shaped building which had what looked like large, silver ping pong balls sticking out of it. Matt and Lucile were stuck on the Birmingham ring road looking for the shopping centre that their new apartment was above.

"I believe it's a shopping centre. Clearly not the one we're looking for though." Lucile replied.

"Thank God." Matt said. "It's monstrous. It looks like something from a cheap, crappy space film."

"I think we're nearly there." Was all Lucile said.

Pulling off the main road and it to the underground car park under the building where their new apartment was Matt looked up at the huge red expanse on the shopping centre they were going to live above. The whole thing was bright red.

"Ok. This is almost as bad."

"Oh, shut up. Apparently the apartments are really nice and the shops look nice as well." Lucile said. "There's restaurants and bars out the back."

"Bars?" Matt said excitedly. "Excellent."

They made their way up to the top floor apartment and let themselves it. What Lucile had heard was true, the apartment was lovely. It had a large, modern kitchen and lounge area with big windows, two spacious bedrooms and a bathroom to share.

"My room or yours?" Matt asked with a wink.

"We have to at least make it look like we don't share a room." Lucile scolded. "But we can have the one on the right." She added, smiling.

Matt threw down his bag and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her against him.  
"I've finally got you all to myself." He said, grinning down at her.

"You had me all to yourself all last night." Lucile reminded him.

"This is different." He insisted.

Lucile grinned back at him and kissed him. Then she twisted out of his hold and took her bag in to the bed room on the left.

"You'd better unpack. We need to go over what we're going to do now we're here."

Matt shook his head. Then saluted.

"Yes ma'am"

"I saw that."

After they had unpacked they experimented with the complicated looking coffee machine and came out with some averagely tasting coffee. They pulled out their case files and sat down to discuss their plan.

"Ok." Matt began. "We need to review the main areas we think will be targeted for this ritual thing. We can start tomorrow. We've identifies six possible areas, we can tackle three each and see which one looks the most likely. Then see if we think we have missed anywhere."

Lucile nodded. It would be hard to decide where a mass murder and torture would take place but Deatheaters liked to be dramatic so it narrowed the possibilities down.

"We also need to get a tab on missing persons in the area. See if it's gone up recently and watch it over the next few weeks to see if it does go up. Other than that. There's not much we can do."

"We only have two an a half weeks. We'd better be able to find it or a lot of people are going to die." Lucile muttered.

"We'll find it. Don't worry." Matt said.

He covered Lucile's hand with his own and squeezed it, smiling at her.

"Come on, lets go and get some dinner. I'm starving."

* * *

"Come on! Up! Up! Up!" Lucile shouted as she pulled the covers off Matt. 

Matt groaned and covered his face.

"It's time to go running. Come on!" Lucile continued shouting, whilst tugging at Matt's foot.

"I'm up, I'm up." He mumbled as he rolled out of bed and felt around for his clothes.

Satisfied that Matt was getting up, Lucile went back into the kitchen and looked out the window. It was only just getting light and it was raining. The dull clouds made the dreary buildings of Birmingham look even more dreary and Lucile couldn't wait to get out of the city to the countryside, even if it was raining.

Matt stumbled out of the bedroom and Lucile held out a glass that fizzed with aspirin.

"Drink." She commanded.

Matt obeyed, barely opening his eyes. He sat on a stool and put his head on the surface groaning.

"How come you never get hangovers?" He moaned.

"It's a secret." Lucile said, grinning as she ran her fingers through Matt's hair.

"I hate you." He muttered.

After a gruelling one hour run, stopping off at a shop to buy some food, Matt felt more awake if not more human. Lucile took charge of breakfast as Matt resumed his position with his head on the counter.

"Here, eat. You'll feel better." Lucile said, as she placed a plate of eggs, bacon and toast in front of him.

Matt began to eat slowly whilst Lucile wolfed down her own breakfast whilst reading a newspaper.

"There. First missing person." She said. "_Miss Amy Whiteman (26) lived alone in Knowle and has not been seen for four days._"

"I'll take a look today, I can go before I check out the University. I'll take that area." Matt said, the food seemed to have revived him.

"Good, you can take the city areas. I want to get out of here and go to the countryside. The biggest set of hills around here are the Malvern Hills, it's possible the ritual might happen there, they're a pretty big landmark."

Matt sat smiling at Lucile.

"What?" She asked, defensively.

"Nothing. I just never took you for a country girl."

"I'm not." She said. " Definitely not. I just don't want to traipse round this dull city in the rain all day."

Matt laughed. Then grimaced and put his hands to his head.

* * *

Lucile roared out of the underground car park in a non-descript black car. They had found a note that simply had a registration number on tacked to the fridge under a magnet and a set of keys on a magnetic hook next to it. She took a road sign posted for the Malvern Hills and turned her stereo up. It took her an hour and half to arrive at the town of Malvern, the hills looming darkly behind it. She looked out the window at the people hurrying to and from the little shops and cafes, heads bowed against the rain. Did they have any idea, she wondered, of the war that was going on around them? Probably not, she decided, owing to the Ministry of Magic's nasty little habit of wiping the memory of any magical incident that happened to a 'muggle'. Lucile frowned at the thought of the Ministry of Magic and drove on until she found a car park at the base of the hills. The rain, combined with the curling white mist that seemed to reach out for her as she got out of the car did not bode well. Lucile hadn't come across any Dementors during her work with Mi:5 and didn't relish the thought of them swooping around the Malvern hills. It was icy cold at the base of the hills and Lucile walked quickly to warm herself up, the higher she got the thinner the mist became, but it was still raining. The winter shrubs on either side of the path looked dull and the trees were bare, making the climb to the summit almost as dull as the walk around Birmingham City Centre. Despite her protests to Matt, Lucile liked to go walking in the countryside. However, it wasn't the countryside that Lucile liked, it was the space and lack of people. Ever since she was young, Lucile had liked to take time out to walk by herself. She enjoyed walking by rivers and lakes the most. The still water of lakes made her think of the mysteries left unsolved in the world and of the isolation of the water dwelling creatures within. Lucile relished the freedom she had and the thought of it made her smile slightly, most of the icy cold left her body and despite the wet, she was able to walk on in relative comfort. 

The summit of the hills was a large green plateau, Lucile gazed around at the patchy fern and uneven ground. This was not the place. The weather would be too uncertain and the impact, despite the mutilation, torture and death, would be minimal. It was just too isolated. They wouldn't be able to cause enough panic. She looked down at the town below, the curling mist was winding its way down the streets now and she could almost feel the atmosphere of despair rising through the rain. Movement caught her eye to the right. A figure had appeared at the far end of the plateau. Lucile moved over to a large cylinder like stone at the centre of the summit and pretended to be very interested in it. It had the four points of the compass marked and arrows pointing in the direction of the major cities of England. The figure was coming closer and appeared to be looking around very intently, as Lucile had been doing just moments ago. As it got closer it became clear to Lucile that it was a woman. The woman stopped a few metres from Lucile and looked down into the town. She was wearing a long black coat with the hood pulled up tightly. Checking her gun was easily accessible from the holster at her hip, Lucile turned and walked slowly back to the path down the hill. As she did she saw a tendril of bright ginger hair snake out from under the woman's hood. Lucile relaxed slightly and made her way carefully down the hill. When she glanced back up the hill, the woman was gone.

"Bloody witches," She muttered as she got back to the car and felt the icy cold sweep over her.

Scowling in the direction of the mist Lucile got into the car and slammed the door. She turned the heating up and left Malvern.

* * *

Lucile arrived back at the flat mid-afternoon, although from he unchanging greyness of the sky it could have been any time of day. Matt was not yet back so Lucile wrote up a report on her findings, or lack of, at the Malvern Hills on her laptop and emailed it to the commander. Then she made herself a coffee and settled down on the sofa with a collection of newspapers she had brought from the newsagent round the corner. The newspapers had few stories that related to the truth of what was happening. Murdered families were reported to have died of carbon monoxide poisoning, giant attacks in London were freak weather. It sickened Lucile that people didn't, or couldn't, find out what was really happening. It was non-magical peoples war too, they were just as affected as the magical community. A story a few pages into a local newspaper twisted Lucile's heart. There was a picture of a family, the mother, the father, a pretty young girl of about 12 and another girl of about 4, underneath was a horrible story of how the girls had never come back from the park. The body of the younger had been found with no marks on her to suggest how she died, but the girl of 12 was still missing. There had been no sign of a struggle and no-one, even in the densely population area they lived, had heard anything. 

"Bastards," muttered Lucile viciously.

She threw the paper across the room as hard as she could. It caught a cup that had been sitting on the side and it fell and smashed on the tiled floor. Lucile just glared at the mess.

"Hey now, what's going on?" Matt said, as he closed the front door looking worried.

Lucile sighed.

"It was just a story in the paper. A girl of 12 is missing and her younger sister is dead. No sign of a struggle, no-one heard anything."

"Ah," Matt said, understanding.

He stepped carefully over the smashed mug and sat down next to Lucile she leaned in to his chest and relaxed. His hand stroked her dark hair softly.

"This is what we're here to stop. We're going to stop this happening." He murmured.

Lucile nodded but said nothing.

When he felt the tension in Lucile he asked.

"So what did you find at the hills?"

Lucile sat up and sighed once again. She ran her hand through her still damp hair in an agitated fashion, pushing it back from her face.

"Nothing. Well, nothing really. There was mist everywhere and it was fucking freezing so there must have been Dementors everywhere. It was ok at the top of the hill though. Something interesting did happen though. There was a woman there, she seemed to come from no-where so I guess she was a witch, disappeared pretty fast too."

"Do you think she was a Deatheater?" Matt asked.

Lucile smiled.

"I don't think so. She had bright red hair."

"Ah, a Weasley." Now Matt smiled.

He pull a case towards him and pulled out a thick file. Flicking through it he found a page with a photo of a young woman with bright red hair.

"Look like this?" He asked.

Lucile looked carefully.

"Ginny Weasley," She read. "I'm not sure, I didn't see her face. But I doubt it would be the mother, she's the only one it could be."

"What was she doing?" Matt asked, placing the folder upon the glass topped table in front of him and taking a sip of Lucile's coffee.

"From the looks of things, the same as me. She was just having a look round. She'd gone before I'd even made it back to the car."

"Hmm," Matt looked thoughtful. "This means that there are a group of wizards in the this area doing exactly what we're doing. Well, I suppose it will be nice to know we've got help when the time comes, even if they don't know they're helping us."

"We'll be fine without them," Lucile snapped.

She took her coffee back of Matt and took a long drink.

"Lucile, why.." Matt began, but Lucile cut him off.

"It doesn't matter."

"But."

"What did you find today," She interrupted.

Matt paused to look into her eyes, as if the answer to her hatred of wizards would be written there for him to see.

"At the University, the same situation as you. Nothing out of the ordinary. There was a girl there who looked like a student but was looking around a bit too much and disappeared very quickly. She also looked a bit too sober for a student if you ask me. Anyway, the house in Knowle is a different story. It was trashed. Looks like the girl put up one hell of a fight."

"Good," Lucile said.

"I asked intel to run a track on her history and they sent me a message earlier. She was a Squib, you know, a relative of a wizarding family who doesn't have any powers."

"I know what a Squib is," Lucile muttered.

She picked the folder from the table.

"Who do you think the girl at the Uni was?"

"Well, I think it might have been Granger. If it was, then I bet Potters here as well. That must mean some high ranking Deatheaters will be floating around."

Lucile flicked through the file to the page on Hermione Granger. 'Muggle born' it said. There was a picture of a smiling, bushy brown haired girl attached to the page.

"Yeah that was her, definitely." Matt said.

Lucile looked down at the girl, her age said that she was a year younger than she was.

"They're all so young," Lucile murmured.

"And how old are you?" Matt asked, "Old woman at 22. Anyway, only some of them are younger than you have you seen the picture of their leader type person, Dumbledome?"

"It's Dumbledore, idiot." Lucile said.

"Yeah whatever," Matt said with a wave of his hand. "But, he looks ancient."

Lucile rolled her eyes. She got up from the couch and stretched.

"What shall we have for dinner?" She asked, flicking on the lamp on the table.

The sun had gone down completely and the only light coming in was from the street lights below. Lucile hadn't noticed how dark it had become.

"I fancy a burger." Matt said.

"Why don't you ever want something that's already in the fridge?" Lucile asked irritably, but she picked up her jacket anyway. "Come on then."

Matt grinned and jumped up. He caught Lucile around the waist and placed a kiss on her lips, before letting go and striding over to the door.

"After you." He said, pompously.

Lucile rolled her eyes.

"We can't eat out every night you know."

* * *

Matt was fast asleep, one arm curled tightly around Lucile's waist, who was lay on her back, staring out the window at the pouring rain. She was exhausted, but couldn't fall asleep. All she could think about was that little girl who had been taken with no sign of a struggle, the dead little sister and the young woman who had put up such a fight in her house. 

"I will get them back." She said out loud. "I will save them."

Matt just murmured in his sleep and fidgeted a little bit.

* * *

"There was someone else on the hill today." Ginny said. 

Ginny, Harry, Hermione and Ron were sat around a large table in a small kitchen. It was very cramped and by the many empty chairs around the table, was often much more cramped.

"Do you think they were a Deatheater?" the other red head asked.

"I don't know." Ginny said, she looked confused. "It seemed like she was looking for something. She was wearing all black and had dark black hair."

"Not all Deatheaters wear dark clothing and have dark hair Ginny," Ron said sarcastically.

"I know that Ron," Ginny snapped. "But she did look suspicious. I don't think she can have been though. She was driving a car. I can't believe any Deatheaters would. It was just weird." She finished.

"She must have just been a muggle out for a walk." Harry said.


End file.
